Pet shop

@/ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ✿\ Nakamura Reia Hyeongjoo was flattered by the compliment, but saddened at the same time. If only more people were compassionate and empathetic of the hybrids who were treated poorly, or lived on the streets with little to no care. For him, it was the right and decent thing to do and if he could he'd do so much more. He smiles softly, and inclined his head. "You're very welcome." He straightened his position, curiously looking at the hybrid before him before he suddenly eemembered. "I'm Hyeongjoo, by the way. It's nice to meet you after these few months." He chuckled, a lighthearted sound. "You don't have to tell me your name if you're...uncomfortable."

@(◕ᴗ◕✿) Lee Hyeongjoo Reia tilted his head as the male said it was fine, waiting as seemingly he’d continue speaking. As the explanation came, he widened his eyes, feeling touched that someone was thinking about him for once. Then he shook his head, saying to himself that the human would have done it for any other cat. “Nice people like you are one in a million…” At that point he wasn’t scared anymore, but he still felt a little nervous as the other got closer. “Thanks”, he said as he took the package, avoiding eye contact and with a flushed face. He couldn’t even remember the last time he got anything directly from someone, even more from a human.

@/ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ✿\ Nakamura Reia "No, no, it's totally fine." Hyeongjoo added in haste, not wanting for the other to get the wrong idea and possibly not come back. He shifted nervously between legs, trying to word his sentences carefully as he tended to just blurt whatever came across his mind. He had a bit of a filter problem. "I noticed awhile back that the trash had looked through a few times, and I thought I might as well take the stuff the shop donates that's actually good, for the most part, and leave it out here for whoever needed it." Hyeongjoo suddenly remembered the small bundle in his arms, took a few steps forward and held out the care package for the hybrid to take. "I couldn't get much this time, but I hope that's okay..." Hyeongjoo still held a respectable distance from the other to not scare him off, a hopeful expression on his face.

@(◕ᴗ◕✿) Lee Hyeongjoo It was clear that Reia's presence scared the human at first, so he was already prepared to run not to cause more problems. However, shortly before he started moving, he smelled a familiar scent. There was no mistake, the scent on the items he got weekly was the same of that man. Reia stood still even if he was afraid, that would be his first and probably only opportunity to find out that person's intentions. He nodded at the question, lifting his gaze a little before speaking. "I thought it was okay as they were mixed within the trash bags...". He was being defensive even though he didn't smell any threatening intentions coming from the other, he was always careful when dealing with humans. "What did you leave them here for?"

@/ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ✿\ Nakamura Reia Hyeongjoo hadn't expected to come face to face with anyone when he exited out the back door, so he was surprised to see someone in the alleyway and jumped slightly in surprise. He hugged the little bag to his chest out of a slight fright until he heard the stanger's soft voice. Hyeongjoo blinked from the unexpected tone, his gaze becoming accustomed to darkness outside and the flickering light by the door helped bring forth some features. Hyeongjoo immediately saw the outline of cat ears and the familiar swinging tail. It only took him a few moments to connect the dots, not wanting to frighten neko as he spoke softly. Although, there was a small gleam of happiness in his eyes as he might have meet the one he's been leaving care packages for. "Are you the one that's been taking the little packages I leave?"

@(◕ᴗ◕✿) Lee Hyeongjoo Though Reia most often scavenged restaurants’ trash for food, there are other things that are also important to live, so when his stomach was full he’d target other places. An interesting spot was the pet shop, where they threw away cat medicine that was about to spoil, old toys and half used hygiene products. However, a strange phenomenon started happening lately: new or very well conserved products were being thrown away, separately from the usual trash. The first time left Reia quite shocked - in a good way - and he thought it was just someone’s mistake and that he was very lucky. Then it happened again, what was suspicious, but he was being benefited anyway and decided not to put much thought into it. It became routine to go to that pet shop to pick up the new bag of supplies.

Some stray cats of the neighborhood noticed that Reia was getting good quality stuff apparently out of nowhere. Of course he refused to disclose his source, but he was afraid the others would eventually find out and manage to pick it up before him. To avoid it, he decided to arrive at the pet shop a few minutes before closing time, being careful to make sure no one saw him on his way there. As he was waiting there, hiding behind a trash container not to be seen by the human, he heard the familiar voices of the other cats closing in. The street and the backdoor were on different sides, so he had to choose between hiding from the human or from the nekos. Just as he made his choice, he met the gaze of the person walking through the shop door, freezing for a moment. “Don’t mind me”, he said lowering his head, afraid that the male would be mad at him for messing with their trash.

@/ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ✿\ Nakamura Reia It was the end of the night now. Hyeongjoo was part of the closing shift for the pet shop, and while he didn't particularly like it the shops closed up early enough for him to get back to his tiny studio and work on his remaining assignments. Although, recently, he had been even more gratefully for the closing shift because he was able to more discreetly place a small bag of unwanted foods, bags, clothing, or whatever else the shop is getting rid of for the unknown visitor who came by every so often. Hyeongjoo had first noticed it a couple of months ago when he went out to the back to throw out some garbage and looked like it had been ransacked thoroughly by someone. It happened a couple of more times before Hyeongjoo decided to might as well make it easier for whoever this visitor could be, and It worked. Sometimes the young man would leave small care packages once a week, or multiple times depending on how much the shop was getting rid of. He made sure not to give actual garbage to the visitor, but it was a little sketchy at times but he hoped it was enough for that day at least. Hyeongjoo had a feeling it was a hybrid, most of the time those on the street were, and it only pained him more. So he genuinely put some thought into the care packages, and without fail, the next day the small bags would be gone. Hyeongjoo thought it was a tiny success each time, and while the two had never actually met, it made him glad he could at least do something. So here he was, wrapping up a small bundle of food after he had finished all the closing procedures in a rush to get this done. Hyeongjoo smiled to himself in satisfactory once he was done, adjusting his glasses as he slipped on his sweater and went out towards the back to leave his weekly package.